Sharing cinematic experiences one movie review at a time…plus, something extra here and there

tammy

And welcome to a slightly different type of a movie review. Long story short: I have been feeling a bit burned out after writing 2-3 movie reviews per week while also writing a lot of essays for my studies. Thus, as soon as the summer started, I almost stopped writing completely and missed out on reviewing quite a few films. In order to get myself back to writing without pushing myself too much and in order to catch up on the missed reviews ASAP, I decided to review all the 5 films together in 1 post. Thankfully, these movies easily lend themselves to this type of format, as they all have a similar message and some shared ideas.

The movies that I will be discussing are: I Feel Pretty, Life of the Party, Book Club, Eddie, and Tully. You might have heard about some or all of these films. If you know anything about them, then you know what’s their connection: they are all female-driven films that encourage women to live at ever age (yes, even after 30) and however they want (as mothers, as career women, as both or neither, or as whoever they want to be). Let’s go over all the pictures one by one in a bit more detail and see what exactly they were doing with the overarching topic of female empowerment.

I Feel Pretty is the latest Amy Schumer comedy (joining Trainwreckand Snatched), written and directed by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (who did How To Be Singlerecently). I have always appreciated Schumer’s ‘zero f*cks given’ attitude but never found her jokes particularly funny or original. I had similarly mixed feelings about this film. I wasn’t sure and I’m still not sure whether this movie portrayed character growth or was confused about its message. Was the movie trying to portray body positivity or body shaming? Was it condoning or celebrating egoism and privilege? Were we laughing with or at Schumer’s character? It’s been like 3 months since I saw the film and I’m still not sure. Rate: 3/5

The second comedy out of the five films, Life of the Party is less raunchy than I Feel Pretty and has a clearer message. Mellisa McCarthy starred and wrote the film, while her husband Ben Falcone directed it (the duo previously worked on Tammyand The Boss together). The main idea of the movie was the female empowerment through higher education, specifically. The film also promoted female friendship and solidarity, which both are super important. On the entertainment side, the movie was funny but a bit cringe-y too. Rate: 3.3/5

The third comedy of the bunch, Book Club stars the creme de la creme of Hollywood: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen. Bill Holderman directed the film (in a directorial debut) from a script written by him and Erin Simms (TV actress). Book Club was my favorite of the three comedies because it had the best-written dialogue and banter and also promoted female friendship not only in college (like Life of the Party) but throughout one’s whole life. It also showcased 4 successful women with different career and life choices (variety is important as any life choice is valid!). Lastly, Book Club, even though inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey, somehow felt the most profound out of all the comedies. Rate: 4/5

The indie version of Book Club, Eddie is small British drama about not being afraid to live and follow one’s dream at any age. While Book Club gets to the same message through a raunchy book, Edie gets there through hiking in Scotland. Sheila Hancock stars as the frustrating and sympathetic lead, while Elizabeth O’Halloran writes and Simon Hunter directs. In addition to Book Club, this film also reminded me of other indie dramas like The Leisure Seeker and Finding Your Feet! Rate: 3.7/5

The last of the films and the second drama of the five, Tully was the film that surprised me the most. Starring Charlize Theron (in another, Monster-esque de-glamourized role) and Mackenzie Davis, written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman (the duo behind Juno), Tully tells the not sugar coated at all story of a tired mother. It has a Bad Moms set-up but doesn’t go the comedy route. Instead, its story goes into an unexpected direction in order to present a message that a simple family life is as valid of a life choice as any other, even if it is no longer promoted as much in the media (‘a career woman’ is the desired ideal these days and my personal ideal too. And yet, this ode to motherhood of a movie states, moms should be celebrated and idolized just as much). Rate: 4/5

To conclude, I hope you enjoyed reading my slightly rushed and probably confused take on 5 movies that I’ve seen recently and somehow managed to connect in my own head!

Sometimes, there comes a movie that ignites and divides the Internet and the latest film to do so is the new Ghostbusters all-female remake. The last 3 words of the previous sentence tell you everything you need to know about the big fight. Some individuals are angry because it is a female Ghostbusters picture, other are enraged because it is simply a remake of a classical film. The third party consists of trolls, who like to see the world burn.

My personal stance on this film is/was kinda neutral, calm and open. I liked the idea of a female group in a lead since I’m a female cinephilé. The fact that it is a remake and not an original female sci-fi comedy is not great, but it doesn’t infuriate me to the point that I would attack somebody online. I did not grow up with the original films of the 80s or the cartoons of the 80s and 90s – I have seen them and enjoyed the viewing experience but never thought about them as something really special – so maybe my lack of personal emotional ties to the property allowed me to be more distant and level-headed. The critics gave the new film an okay score and, so far, all of the reviews I watched or read deemed the movie fine or okay. So, let’s see what I thought.

Ghostbusters’s script was written by Katie Dippold and the director PaulFeig. This duo has previously worked on the comedy The Heat, which I loved. Ghostbusters’s story, on the other hand, was only okay. I liked the moments when the characters were going crazy about science and were just unleashing their inner nerds – if this makes more girls try out S.T.E.M. studies, I will count the film as, at least, partially successful. I also liked the inclusion of the online commentators in the movie – that moment felt really meta, knowing the backlash that the feature’s trailer sparked online. I also liked all the movie references: Patrick Swayze shout-out was fun, the Jaws’sreference involving the mayor was spot on and the Clark Kentjoke was quite nice, although they could have made some kind of Thorjoke, given that that’s the role that Chris Hemsworth actually plays. I also liked the inside references – I liked that they included both Slimerand Stay Puft Marshmallow Man into the picture. I also liked the underlying message of the film that all people seek approval, one way or the other.

On the other hand, some narrative ideas and concepts infuriated me. For one, all of the jokes at the expense of male characters were pushed too far and the whole writing for male characters was just terrible. I know that male dominated films have used female characters as sexualised objects or eye candy, but I don’t want female-driven films repeating the same mistakes. In a world, where universal acclaim is the goal, any kind of vengeful ideas or supposed payback both have no place. The second thing that angered me was the fact that Ghostbusters were too afraid to go all the way – yes, they broke the gender norms and I applaud them for that, but they left all the racial stereotypes for no goddam reason. Moreover, some of the plotlines and plot-twist were way too cliche: what was that Ghostjumpers’s reference? Was that supposed to be a nod to the original Ghostbusters? The whole mayor sideline, while it allowed for some good jokes, did not need to be in the film AGAIN. Lastly, why the big villain of the story could take any shape again? That has been done already (although, I liked that the villain took the shape of their logo). In addition, why did the thing that will destroy the city had to be a huge cloud/vortex/beam? Aren’t there any other ways to destroy the world on screen?

Directing

Paul Feig, who has previously directed Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy– all movies that I actually enjoyed despite not being the biggest fan of comedies – did an okay job with the direction of the Ghostbusters. The CGI looked much better that it did in the 80s, as it should have. The pace of the film was also fine and there were some nice action moments dispersed throughout the runtime of the picture. The scenes during the end credits were also neat and it was also great to hear the original Ghostbusters theme by Ray Parker Jr in a theater once again. In general, the film was kinda cliche but still kinda fun. The main problem I had with the directing of the film was that the Ghostbusters remake didn’t know what it wanted to be. At times, it strived for the action-sci-fi-comedy genre, but it also had numerous moments that belonged to a cartoon parody of a film.

Acting

Melissa McCarthy starred as Dr. Abby Yates, while Kristen Wiig played Dr. Erin Gilbert. They seem to be playing the characters that they always portray – the crazy one and the serious one. Although, to be truthful, McCarthy probably played the least crazy character of her career and I actually really liked her character and the performance. Generally, I do like McCarthy’s characters when she is working with Feig, I just wish she stopped working with her husband Ben Falcone because Tammyand The Boss weren’t great. Wiig’s performance was fine as well, but nothing too special. I like her much more in dramatic rather than comedic roles – she was really good in The Martian.

Kate McKinnon portrayed Dr. Jillian Holtzmann and I had mixed feelings about her character and the portrayal. I liked her look the most out of the 4 leads and she did seem the most interesting and unique. However, at times, her character acted just too weirdly, so that the whole performance turned into a parody and the character into a caricature. McKinnon is mostly known for her sketch comedy work and some of her scenes did feel like over-acted SNLskits. I wish her performance would have been elevated to the big screen level, but I’m still excited to give her another chance, starting with the upcoming Christmas comedy – Office Christmas Party.

While the main pair of the film was supposed to be Wiig’s and McCarthy’s characters, I actually like the chemistry between McCarthy’s and McKinnon’s characters much more and would have loved to see even more of them together.

Leslie Jones portrayed Patty Tolan and was also one of my favorites. Her character was a bit stereotypical but that’s the problem with the writing, not acting, so I’m absolutely disgusted by the hate she received on Twiter. I really liked how Jones delivered her one-liners and snarky reaction remarks and I also appreciated the fact that, through her character, the audiences could at least try to understand the science mumbo-jumbo. Moving forward, Jones will voice a character in SING.

Chris Hemsworth as Kevin Beckman. I hated the writing for Hemsworth’s character and I have no idea why he even chose to play this role, since he has some better things coming up. He still has a few Marvelmovies to do, he will be in Star Trek 4and he just had another mildly but still successful live-action fairytale – The Huntsman. The only saving grace for his character were those few scenes in the end, when he became the main antagonists but even that development didn’t go anywhere interesting.

The cameos: some of the cameos were nice, I especially liked Sigourney Weaver’s and Ernie Hudson’s appearances. Bill Murray’s cameo was a hit and miss for me, it didn’t even seem like he wanted to be there.

All in all, Ghostbusters remake was a mixed bag of a film. It had some nice moments as well as some terrible ones. I don’t think that it deserved so much hate that it received, but I also cannot say that I understand why it had to be made.

The second (or third) buddy cop comedy of this summer has reached the theaters, so let’s review it!

IMDb summary: After he reconnects with an awkward pal from high school through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.

Movie suggestions

The first buddy cop comedy that I had in mind is The Nice Guys, which is basically the retro version of Central Intelligence. Also, we could definitely count Zootopia as a crime comedy. Central Intelligence and Zootopia have a similar humor style – very contemporary, pop-culture based.

Minor Spoilers Ahead

Writing

Central Intelligence’s script was written by a trio of screenwriters Ike Barinholtz, David Stassen and the director Rawson Marshall Thurber. I’m not familiar with their previous writings projects but I did enjoy the story that they created for this film. I liked the overall message of being one’s own hero and being oneself, although, that last inspirational speech might have been a bit too much. Nevertheless, dealing with life after highs school and the scars that bullying leaves on one’s mind were good topics for the film since so many people, myself included, can relate to them. The crime aspects of the film – not knowing who the bad guys were and all the double crossings – also worked. The comedy was also fine – I enjoyed the pop culture references. The film 16 candles was mentioned a lot and the line ‘See You On The Other Side’ also received a few repeats. Although it did not originate in the Fast and Furiousfilms, I took it as a reference to that franchise, especially the Fast Five film, in which Dwayne Johnson first appeared. Vin Dieselwas also name-dropped a couple of times. The line ‘You’re like a snack-sized Denzel’also made me chuckle.

Directing

Rawson Marshall Thurber, who directed We’re The Millers, did a good job directing Central Intelligence. The action was cool, although, he could have used a bit less of the shaky cam. The CGI to make the actors look younger also worked. The pacing could have been better – the movie was a bit slow to start – but wasn’t that bad to ruin the film. I also liked the fact that they included the bloopers before the credits, like the older comedies used to do – it seemed like all the actors had so much fun on set and that made me like the film even more.

Acting

Dwayne Johnson as Bob Stone/Robbie Weirdicht was a good lead. His character seemed to have a multiple personality disorder and was just a tiny bit obsessed with Hart’s character. Johnson first appeared on my radar because of his involvement in the Fast and Furious films, but since then, he has really built himself an exciting acting career. Last year’s San Andreaswas a surprising hit and later this year he is voicing a major character in Moana. In 2017, Baywatchis coming out, which Dwayne has also produced.

Kevin Hart as Calvin Joyner was also amazing. I’m not really familiar with Hart’s work, I haven’t seen neither the Ride Along films, nor Think Like A Manfilms, nor last year’s Get Hard (I don’t like Will Ferrel that much), so I don’t have a strong opinion on him. I did, however, really enjoy his performance on Top Five as well as in this film, so I might eventually check out those other movies I’ve mentioned too.

I really liked the contrast between Johnson and Hart. Their chemistry was also on-point.

The supporting cast consisted of Amy Ryan as Agent Pamela Harris, Aaron Paul as Phil and Danielle Nicolet as Maggie Joyner. I was pleasantly surprised to see Paul appear in the film since I really like him as an actor. I have reviewed a bunch of his films: Need for Speed, A Long Way Down, Triple 9and Eye in the Sky. Bridge of Spies’sRyan was fine in her role and I also enjoyed the performance of Nicolet.

Melissa McCarthy had a small cameo in the film that came out of nowhere but somehow worked. I laughed out loud when she appeared alongside Johnson. While I have mixed feelings about her solo comedies, I definitely like her in small, cameo-sized quantities.

In short, while I don’t usually watch comedies at the cinema, I’m happy that I’ve made an exception for Central Intelligence – it was an entertaining and funny buddy film with great acting and nice message. Not a must see, but a definite recommendation.